Olá!

This week I had my last interview with Presidente Amorim! The Portugal Porto and the Portugal Lisboa missions are going to turn into one big mission at the start of July, so Presidente and Sister Amorim only have about two more weeks left on their mission. 

But before they go home, Presidente wanted to have one last interview with each of his missionaries. It also seemed like he wanted them majority of these final interviews to be in person, and not by video chat like he sometimes has done. So he scheduled to drive down to Viseu last Wednesday just so that he could interview the six missionaries here. One by one we went into the room with him, and one by one we left feeling really uplifted! This was one of my best interviews that I´ve had with my mission presidente! He was just so happy and positive and encouraging! I really felt like I was talking with a dad, haha. 

He asked that everyone come with a question to ask him, and he would base his final interview off of that. Because I am nearing the end of my mission, he gave me some advice on what I should do when I get home. He told me that when I get home, I should prayerfully make a list of all of the honorable, worthy things that I want to accomplish in the next ten years, and then do everything in my power to accomplish them. 

To end our "chat," we closed with a prayer, and in it he basically just prayed for me and for my safety and my success. It was a successful last interview with Presidente Amorim!

This transfer my companion and I have decided that we want to work more with the members. A few days ago we decided to go and pay a visit to a young couple (Vladi and Marta) that me and my last companion never visited. As we were walking there we passed a small group of people and just said hi to them as we passed. A few seconds later, when we were getting to the apartment building, one of the people from the group appeared behind us and asked us in English if we were looking for Marta. We said yes, and she said that she was her sister and also said "here, let´s go on in", and she went and unlocked the apartment building and then opened the apartment door and yelled inside "Marta! The Elders are here!", haha. 

Unfortunately Vladi wasn´t at home, so we weren´t able to enter and talk, but we combined a day to come back this next week. Me and my companion were both surprised at how nice Marta´s sister and mom were (her mom appeared right behind her), and we both feel really good that we will be able to start to teach them about the gospel! 

There is a new family in the Viseu Ward who just moved here from Brasil. They are so nice! They invited us and the other Elders and Sisters to eat dinner with them yesterday. I knew that they lived pretty far, so I was expecting them to offer us a ride to their house, but instead, they just described how to get there, haha. 

He (Antonio), told us a reference point, and then he said "Vai sempre em frente!" which basically means "just keep going straight forever!". And it was forever, haha. He said that the journey would be about 4km, just to get there. But we weren´t going to pass up a dinner with a Brasilian family, so we (the missionaries) met a little over an hour before the dinner appointment to start walking together over there. 

Haha, it was quite the journey! Especially because it was so hot out, and we were walking on the side of the road for a good part of it. But it was worth it because this family is such a great family, and the food was delicious! They live in our area, so we are going to go back more times (just us, that way we can have a ride!), and start to do missionary work with them. They love the missionaries, and I know that they will really be a great family to have in the ward! 

PS. I just looked at google maps, and it was actually 5.3 kilometers just to get there, which means we walked a total of about 10 KM, yesterday, which is about 6 miles!

I´m grateful that I can be a missionary, and that I get to meet so many different, kind people! I love the people of Portugal, and also of Brasil, haha! Even when the work seems to be going slow or it seems that nothing we do is working out, I know that if I just do my best, than that is enough. There is a part in Preach my Gospel that says that nothing that we do in the missionary work is in vain. Every smile that we give, every card that we pass out, every reference that we contact, nothing is in vain and everything is a part of Heavenly Father´s perfect plan! 

I love and miss you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Barker

Vou ficar em Viseu!

Olá!

Sorry about my short, lame email last week! Usually we receive the news about transfers on Sunday night, but we got a text sunday afternoon telling us that we wouldn´t know until Monday around noon. But then around 11am we got a message telling us we wouldn´t find out until Monday at 6pm! I´m pretty sure everyone on the mission was so antsy to find out what would happen. I was especially anxious because this would determine who would be my last companion, and if I would be staying in the same area. Well... 

I´ll be staying in Viseu! I already knew  that I would probably end my mission here, but sometimes crazy things happen with transfers. My new (and last) companion will be Elder Hirschi, from Treemonten, Utah. He will actually goes home a few months after me, so he´ll be "killing me" and then he will receive his last companion as well. It seems that that tends to happen a lot in this area, haha. If this first week is any indication of how the rest of the transfer will be, then I will be grateful, because I will have a great last transfer! We get along really well, and he understands that I want to end my mission working well. 

We also received one more companionship of Elderes in Viseu, Elder Pina and Elder Howard. So now there are four elders and two sisters, and we all get along pretty well! I´m looking forward to serving with all of these missionaries these next five weeks, and I know that we will have success this transfer!

This last week Elder Hirschi and I decided to take a twenty minute bus ride to a small "aldeia" (village), that is in our area, because I have never been there, and we had a reference of a person that lives there. I´m so glad that we went! The people there are so nice and humble! I think its because the missionaries don´t usually go to this place (Vila Chã de Sá), so the people are as used to us, so they are actually curious, haha. This village seemed exactly how I pictured how all of Portugal would look like: tiny cobblestone roads and houses, and lots of farms. I know that there are plenty of people that live there that will listen to our message, we just have to go back and find them! I unfortunately didn´t bring my camera, but the next time we go, I´ll be sure to take a few pictures!

For our first day as a companionship, we went to a funeral . There was a member who had been sick for several years, who just passed away the day before we got back to Viseu. His name was Irmão Cardoso, and I had never met him, but I had gotten in the habit of praying for him because all of the members loved him and always kept him in their prayers. At the funeral, the bishop and a member of the stake presidency gave talks, based on the plan of salvation. They were really positive and full of hope. So many of our members went to the funeral, and it was really hard for me to seem them so sad. I have grown to love the members of the Church in Viseu (like in all of my areas), that when I saw them crying I started crying as well!

I was sitting in Sacrament meeting yesterday at Church, and I just felt a great love for the Viseu ward. The members here are so kind, and so strong in their testimonies. I truly am so blessed to be able to serve here and help them. I love Portugal so much! Everything about it is so wonderful, I just know that I am going to be so sad when I have to say goodbye.

I am so grateful that I can be a missionary! I love this Church and this Gospel so much! I know that my life has slowly been changed over the past two years, and that my testimony has grown. I love being able to wear my nametag everyday and have the opportunity to represent Jesus Christ wherever I go! 

I love and miss you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Barker

Olá!

I know that you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to know who my new companion will be, and so am I! For some reason the transfer plans have taken longer this time around, so no one on the mission will know about transfers until today at 6pm... But, I am in Porto right now because I had to drop Elder Alves off because he is ending his mission, so I am kind of just floating around in Porto changing companionships every few hours haha. So, I´ll let you all know next monday what happens, lol. 

Also, once again I am with little time to use email today because there are about 8 missionaries that use the same two computers in the chapel in Porto, so I only have a few more minutes to write! 

So this week:

- We had a multi-stake conference with a satalite transmission for all of Europe

-We were called angels by another member because we were in the right place at the right time to help her carry a few boxes-

-We had Elder Alves´ "funeral" on Saturday

-A member told me and the other Americans missionaries in our district that we had chicken skin because we burn so easily, lol

-I´m starting my final six weeks on the mission

-I love Portugal in its people, and I also love the gospel and the Church!

Sorry that this email is so lame and short, but I will send some more pictures to make up for it :)

I love and miss you all! Wish me luck!

Love,
Elder Barker